I know people who have never struggled with perfectionism, but their numbers are few. By the late 20th century, Americans seemed to have increasingly drifted toward this tendency. As psychologist Adam Grant has written, “There’s strong evidence that perfectionism has been rising for years across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Social media clearly hasn’t helped, but the spike started in the 1990s—a full generation before anyone was posting curated images on Instagram.” Fortunately, there are ways to address it when it sneaks up on us.

I still fight it in my career, as recently as last week. I put together a talk that I felt had great data, practical action steps, and lots of “heart” at the end for an audience of business leaders from various industries. I had the perfect plan. What happened was less than perfect. The audio embedded into my slide deck failed, despite a strong rehearsal. Next, my headset started making noises and had to be replaced in the middle of my session. After these two fumbles, my time ran out and I was forced into an abrupt closing idea. I gave myself a B- on that event and walked into my lunch meeting with sour emotions.

I bet this has happened to........

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